Of all the matriarchs in recent Indigenous history, few are more significant than Kitty. She was the Mother of William Cooper, was born in the early to mid 1820s, before settlement, or white settlement in that area. Kitty was from the Wollithiga or Wallithica Tribe. Kitty, it is said, was born near the Moira Lakes, Full Article…

In his book, ‘Recollections of Squatting in Victoria’ which was written in 1883, Edward Curr says he knew each member of the Bangerang tribe. These are the people now known as the Yorta Yorta. This being the case he would certainly have met Nan Kitty, the mother of William Cooper. She would have been in Full Article…

William Cooper fully identified as an Aboriginal man. But he never denied that he was also “European.” He was very much aware of his heritage on both sides. William was the son of Kitty. Her surname was, sometimes Atkinson, sometimes Cooper. She was earlier known as Kitty Lewis possibly because of the original owner of Full Article…